Method and system for a repeater network that utilizes distributed transceivers with array processing

ABSTRACT

A device that comprises a plurality of distributed transceivers, a central processor and a network management engine may be configured to function as relay device, relaying an input data stream from a source device to at least one other device. The relaying may include configuring one or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers to particular mode of relay operation and receiving the input data stream from the source device via at least one of the configured one or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers. The relaying may also include transmitting at least one relay data stream corresponding to the input data stream to the at least one other device, via at least one of the configured one or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This patent application makes reference to, claims priority to andclaims benefit from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/548,201filed on Oct. 17, 2011.

The above stated application is hereby incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS/INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

This application makes reference to:

U.S. application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket Number 25066US02)filed on May 16, 2012;U.S. application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket Number 25068US02)filed on May 16, 2012;U.S. application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket Number 25069US02)filed on May 16, 2012;U.S. application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket Number 25070US02)filed on May 16, 2012;U.S. application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket Number 25071 US02)filed on May 16, 2012; andU.S. application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket Number 25072US02)filed on May 16, 2012.

Each of the above stated applications is hereby incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

[Not Applicable]

MICROFICHE/COPYRIGHT REFERENCE

[Not Applicable].

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Certain embodiments of the invention relate to communications. Morespecifically, certain embodiments of the invention relate to a methodand a system for a repeater network that utilizes distributedtransceivers with array processing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Millimeter Wave (mmWave) devices are being utilized for high throughputwireless communications at very high carrier frequencies. There areseveral standards bodies such as 60 GHz wireless standard, WirelessHD,WiGig, and WiFi IEEE 802.11ad that utilize high frequencies such as the60 GHz frequency spectrum for high throughput wireless communications.In the US, the 60 GHz spectrum band may be used for unlicensed shortrange data links such as, for example, data links within a range of 1.7km, with data throughputs up to 6 Gbits/s. These higher frequencies mayprovide smaller wavelengths and enable the use of small high gainantennas. However, these higher frequencies may experience highpropagation loss. Other applications may include fixed wirelesscommunications, such as wireless backhaul links between cellular basestations.

Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditionalapproaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, throughcomparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention asset forth in the remainder of the present application with reference tothe drawings.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system and/or method is provided for a repeater network that utilizesdistributed transceivers with array processing, substantially as shownin and/or described in connection with at least one of the figures, asset forth more completely in the claims.

These and other advantages, aspects and novel features of the presentinvention, as well as details of an illustrated embodiment thereof, willbe more fully understood from the following description and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary communicationsystem that support centralized distributed transceiver management, inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary communicationsystem that supports configuring a mesh of relay devices, in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram that illustrates an exemplary usage scenario wheredistributed transceivers are centrally managed to create ahigh-performance link between a transmitting device and one receivingdevice, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram that illustrates an exemplary transceiver module, inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary application device with acollection of distributed transceivers that are arranged in a startopology, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating an exemplary relay device thatutilizes distributed transceivers in forwarding data streams, inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5B is a diagram illustrating an exemplary relay device thatutilizes distributed transceivers for forwarding data streams, withvarying beamforming configurations for the receive side and the transmitside, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart that illustrates exemplary steps for relayingdata streams via a device that comprises distributed transceivers, inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Certain embodiments of the invention may be found in a method and systemfor repeater network that utilizes distributed transceivers with arrayprocessing. In various embodiments of the invention, a relay device thatcomprises a plurality of distributed transceivers, a central processorand a network management engine, may relay an input data stream from asource device to at least one other device. In this regard, the relayingmay comprise configuring one or more of the plurality of distributedtransceivers to operate in a particular mode of relay operation. Theinput data stream may be from the source device via at least one of theconfigured distributed transceivers. At least one relay data streamcorresponding to the input data stream may be transmitted to the otherdevice, via at least one of the configured distributed transceivers. Theone other device may comprise another relay device, or a destinationdevice for the input data stream. The source device may comprise anotherrelay device or an original source device for the input data stream. Theparticular mode of relay operation may be determined based on one ormore performance criteria, which may pertain to, for example, linkquality and/or propagation environment.

The particular mode of relay operation may be selected from a pluralityof modes of relay operation. In this regard, the plurality of modes ofrelay operation may comprise a passive mode of relay operation and anactive mode of relay operation. The passive mode of relay operation maycomprise forwarding the data stream unprocessed, whereas the active modeof relay operation may comprise performing digital signal processing bythe central processor of the relay device during the reception of theinput data stream and/or transmission of the at least one relay datastream. The network management engine may monitor during relayoperations, one or more communication parameters or conditionsassociated with the configuration of the one or more of the plurality ofdistributed transceivers. Beamforming settings and/or antennaarrangement for at least one of the configured distributed transceiversmay be configured based on the monitoring. The relay device maydetermine and/or select connection types and communication protocolsthat may be applied to the relay operations, and may allocate resourcesto the one or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers.Resources may be shared among the one or more of the plurality ofdistributed transceivers during the relay operations.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary communicationsystem that support centralized distributed transceiver management, inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 1A,there is shown a communication network 100 comprising a plurality ofapplication devices, of which application devices 111-119 are displayed.

The application devices 111-119 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry,code, and/or interfaces that may be operable to communicate voice anddata with one to another over wired and/or wireless connections. In anexemplary embodiment of the invention, each of the application devices111-119 in the communication network 100 may comprise one or moredistributed transceivers (DTs) for communication in the communicationnetwork 100. For example, distributed transceivers 111 a through 119 amay be integrated in the application devices 111 through 119,respectively, and utilized for receiving and transmitting signals. Eachdistributed transceiver may be equipped with an independentlyconfigurable antenna or antenna array that is operable to transmit andreceive signals over the air. For example, the distributed transceivers111 a each may be equipped with an independently configurable antennaarray 111 b, and the distributed transceiver 118 a, however, may beequipped with a single independently configurable antenna 118 b totransmit and receive signals over the air. Depending on devicecapabilities and user preferences, distributed transceivers such as thedistributed transceivers 111 a within the application device 111, forexample, may comprise radios such as a millimeter Wave (mmWave), a WLAN,WiMax, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), cellular radios, WiMAXradio, or other types of radios. In this regard, radios such as mmWaveradios may be utilized at very high carrier frequencies for highthroughput wireless communications.

In operation, the distributed transceivers 111 a through 119 a in thecommunication network 100 are physically positioned and oriented atdifferent locations within corresponding application devices such likelaptop, TV, gateway and/or set-top box. The distributed transceivers 111a through 119 a may be centrally managed by a single network managementengine (NME) 120 of the communication network 100. In an exemplaryembodiment of the invention, the network management engine 120 mayreside within a specific application device in the communication network100. The network management engine 120 may be centralized as a fullsoftware implementation on a separate network microprocessor, forexample. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, an applicationdevice in the communication network 100 may act or function as a masterapplication device or an end-user application device. An applicationdevice that comprises the network management engine 120 and/or may haveaccess to manage or control the network management engine 120 todynamically configure and manage operation of the entire distributedtransceivers in the communication network 100 is referred to a masterapplication device. An application device that does not comprise thenetwork management engine 120 and/or may have no access to manage orcontrol the network management engine 120 is referred to as an end-userapplication device.

In some instances, the application device 111 acts as a masterapplication device in the communication network 100. In an exemplaryembodiment of the invention, the network management engine 120 in themaster application device 111 may be utilized to configure, control, andmanage the entire distributed transceivers 111 a through 119 a in thecommunication network 100 to optimize network performance. Theapplication devices 111-119 each may operate in a transmission mode orin a receiving mode. In instances where the master application device111 is transmitting multimedia information such as images, video, voice,as well as any other form of data to one or more receiving devices suchas the end-user application devices 112-116, the network managementengine 120 in the master application device 111 may be enabled tomonitor and collect corresponding communication environment informationfrom the end-user application devices 112-116. The collectedcommunication environment information may comprise propagationenvironment conditions, link quality, device capabilities, antennapolarization, radiation pattern, antenna spacing, array geometry, devicelocations, target throughput, and/or application QoS requirementsreported. The network management engine 120 may be operable todynamically configure the distributed transceivers 111 a-116 a andassociated antenna or antenna array 111 b-116 b, and to coordinate andmanage the operation of the distributed transceivers 111 a-116 a andassociated antenna or antenna array 111 b-116 b based on the collectedcommunication environment information supplied from the end-userapplication devices 112-116. In this regard, the network managementengine 120 may configure a single application device such as theapplication device 117 to maintain continuous connection with multipledifferent application devices such as the application devices 111-113.

The application device capabilities may comprise battery life, number oftransceivers, number of antennas per transceiver, device interfacetypes, processing protocols, service types, service classes and/orservice requirements. The interface types for the application devices111-119 may comprise access interface types such as Multimedia over CoaxAlliance (MoCA), WiFi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, Femtocell, and/or cordless.The processing protocols may comprise service layer protocols, IP layerprotocols and link layer protocols, as specified, for example, in theOpen Systems Interconnect (OSI) model. The service layer protocols maycomprise secure protocols such as Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and controlprotocols such as Spanning Tree Protocol (STP). The IP layer protocolsmay comprise IP signaling protocols such as SIP and H.323, and IP mediatransport protocols such as TCP, UDP, RTP, RTC and RTCP. The link layerprotocols may comprise technology-specific PHY and MAC layer protocolssuch as, for example, Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA), WiFi,Ethernet, Femtocell, and/or cordless.

Although communication among the application devices 111-119 with one ormore distributed transceivers is illustrated in FIG. 1, the inventionmay not be so limited. Accordingly, an application device may beoperable to utilize one or more associated distributed transceivers tocommunicate with one or more application devices with normaltransceivers without departing from the spirit and scope of variousembodiments of the invention.

In an exemplary aspect of the invention, at least some of theapplication devices 111-119 may be configured as relay devices, whichmay be utilized in relaying data streams between two devices—that is asource device and a destination device. Using a particular applicationdevice as a relay device may be desirable when no direct links exist orare available between the source device and the destination device. Forexample, relaying data streams via intermediate relay devices may beutilized where direct Line-of-sight (LOS) links between the sourcedevice and the destination device are blocked by physical obstacles.Relaying data streams via intermediate relay devices may also be done insome instances where there is clear LOS between the source device andthe destination device, and/or when direct links between these devicesare available. For example, in some instances communication resources inthe source device and/or the destination device may not be sufficient oroptimal to maintain direct links therebetween. Also, in some instances,relaying data streams via intermediate relay devices may result inenhanced performance, and/or in reduction of resource use or powerconsumption, such as, for example, where communicating data streams viathe relay device(s) may require less power or resources thancommunicating data streams directly between the source device and thedestination device.

In an embodiment of the invention, a plurality of application devicesmay be combined into a relay mesh to provide relay services to anydevices that may be in operating proximity to any of the devices in therelay mesh. In this regard, the network management engine 120 may beoperable to, for example, dynamically select and/or configureapplication devices that may be included in the mesh network; toconfigure distributed transceivers in the mesh network, and antenna orantenna arrays associated with the distributed transceivers; and/or tocoordinate and manage the operation of the distributed transceivers andassociated antennas or antenna arrays. Furthermore, at least some of theconfiguration and/or other functions performed by the network managementengine 120 may be based on the collected communication environmentinformation supplied from the end-user application devices.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary communicationsystem that supports configuring a mesh of relay devices, in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 1B, there isshown a plurality of end-user application devices (AD) 152 ₁-152 _(N),154, and 156, and the network management engine 120 of FIG. 1A.

The application devices 152 ₁-152 _(N), 154, and 156 may be similar tothe application devices 111-119, substantially as described with regardto FIG. 1B, for example. In this regard, each of the application devices152 ₁-152 _(N), 154, and 156 may comprise distributed transceivers(DTs), which may be utilized to support distributed basedcommunications, substantially as described with respect to FIG. 1B, forexample. In an exemplary aspect of the invention, the applicationdevices 152 ₁-152 _(N), 154, and 156 may support a relay mode ofoperations, whereby one or more application devices may be configured tosupport forwarding data on behalf of other devices. In some embodiments,the devices that are primarily targeted for relay operation may deploydistributed transceivers with different beamforming and/or performancecapabilities (i.e., covering a wide range of performance/capability).This may enable providing better flexibility to select the most suitableand/or optimal set of transceivers, such as depending on network and/orpropagation conditions.

In an embodiment of the invention, a plurality of application devices,such as the application devices 152 ₁-152 _(N), may be configured toestablish a relay mesh 150. In this regard, the relay mesh 150 may beestablished by forming device-to-device links among the applicationdevices 152 ₁-152 _(N). The device-to-device links within the relay mesh150 may be configured and/or established using distributed transceivers(DTs) of these devices. In this regard, the distributed transceivers ofthe application devices 152 ₁-152 _(N) may be physically positioned andoriented at different locations within corresponding applicationdevices, and may be centrally managed by the network management engine(NME) 120, which may reside within a specific application device 152_(x) in the relay mesh 150, and/or may be centralized as a full softwareimplementation on a separate network microprocessor, for example. Therelay mesh 150 may be utilized to relay communications betweenapplications devices, including application devices that are outside themesh relay 150 but in operating proximity to at least one of theapplications devices 152 ₁-152 _(N) of the mesh network 150. Relayingcommunications within the mesh network may comprise traversing more thanone application device. For example, to relay communications betweenapplication devices 154 and 156, application devices 152 ₁, 152 ₃, and152 ₄ may be utilized.

In various embodiments of the invention, the relay operations within therelay mesh 150 may be adaptively managed. In this regard, adaptivemanagement of relay operation may comprise dynamically and/or adaptivelycontrolling and/or configuring communications within the relay mesh 150and/or interactions among the application devices 152 ₁-152 _(N), tooptimize performance of the application devices 152 ₁-152 _(N) and/orthe relay mesh 150. For example, the network management engine 120 mayquery the application devices 152 ₁-152 _(N), to determine availableresources and/or capabilities thereof, such as number and/or positioningof the distributed transceivers (DTs) of these devices. The networkmanagement engine 120 may then utilize data collected based on suchquery in selecting and/or configuring the devices during relayoperations. In some embodiments of the invention, intelligent managementof relay operations may comprise asymmetric communication betweentransceivers; selecting transceiver(s) utilized during the interactionsbased such criteria as location and/or proximity; adaptive configurationof transceivers (e.g., selection of optimal interface and/or attributesthereof); real-time monitoring of communication environment within therelay mesh 15, and dynamically controlling (re)configuration oftransceivers in the mesh based on the monitoring; and/or managingfrequency and/or channel allocation and reuse among the applicationdevices and/or the transceivers.

FIG. 2 is a diagram that illustrates an exemplary usage scenario wheredistributed transceivers are centrally managed to create ahigh-performance link between a transmitting device and one receivingdevice, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Referring toFIG. 2, there is shown a master application device 210 and an end-userapplication device 220.

The master application device 210 may comprise suitable logic,circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to communicatemultimedia information such as images, video, voice, as well as anyother forms of data with one or more application devices such as theend-user application device 220. The master application device 210 maycomprise a collection of distributed transceivers 212 a through 212 e,and a central processor 217 that comprises a central baseband processor214, a network management engine 216 and a memory 218. In an exemplaryembodiment of the invention, each of the collection of distributedtransceivers 212 a through 212 e may be physically positioned andoriented at different locations within an application device such as alaptop, TV, gateway, and set-top box. In this regard, the collection ofdistributed transceivers 212 a through 212 e may be implemented invarious ways such as, for example, a single distributed transceiverintegrated in a single chip package; multiple silicon dies on one singlechip; and multiple distributed transceivers on a single silicon die.Depending on device capabilities and user preferences, the distributedtransceivers 212 a-212 e may be oriented in a fixed direction ormultiple different directions. In another exemplary embodiment of theinvention, the collection of distributed transceivers 212 a-212 e may beoperable to receive and/or transmit radio frequency signals from and/orto the end-user application device 220 using air interface protocolsspecified in UMTS, GSM, LTE, WLAN, 60 GHz/mmWave, and/or WiMAX, forexample. The end-user application device 220 may comprise suitablelogic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to enablecommunication with other devices, such as the master application device210. In this regard, the end-user application device 220 may besubstantially similar to the master application device 210. For example,the end-user application device 220 may comprise transceivers 222 and224, utilizing antennas (or antenna arrays) 222 a-222 n and 224 a-224 m,respectively, a baseband processor 226, and a memory 228.

The central baseband processor 214 may comprise suitable logic,circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to performbaseband digital signal processing needed for transmission and receivingoperation of the entire collection of distributed transceivers 212 athrough 212 e. For example, the central baseband processor 214 may beoperable to perform waveform generation, equalization, and/or packetprocessing associated with the operation of the collection ofdistributed transceivers 212 a through 212 e. In addition, the centralbaseband processor 214 may be operable to configure, manage and controlorientations of the distributed transceivers 212 a-212 e. The basebandprocessor 226 may be substantially similar to the central basebandprocessor 214.

The network management engine 216 may comprise suitable logic,circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to monitor andcollect communication environment information such as propagationenvironment conditions, link quality, application device capabilities,transmitter/receiver locations, target throughput, and/or applicationQoS requirements. The network management engine 216 may utilize thecollected communication environment information to configure system,network and communication environment conditions as needed. For example,the network management engine 216 may be operable to perform high levelsystem configurations such as the number of transceivers that areactivated, the number of application devices that are being communicatedwith, adding/dropping application devices to the communication network100. As shown in FIG. 2, the network management engine 216 is residingin the master application device 210. However, in some embodiments thenetwork management engine 216 may reside on different network devicessuch as separate network microprocessors and servers on thecommunication network 100. The network management engine 216 maycomprise a full software implementation, for example. In addition, thefunctionality of the network management engine 216 may be distributedover several devices in the communication network 100. In someembodiments the network management engine 216 may be operable to managecommunication sessions over the communication network 100. In thisregard, the network management engine 216 may be operable to coordinateoperation of baseband processors in the communication network 100 suchthat various baseband processing may be split or shared among thebaseband processors. For example, the network management engine 216 mayenable multiple central baseband processors for parallel basebandprocessing in order to increase throughput if needed.

The memory 218 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/orcode that may be operable to store information such as executableinstructions and data that may be utilized by the central basebandprocessor 214 and/or other associated component units such as, forexample, the network management engine 216. The memory 218 may compriseRAM, ROM, low latency nonvolatile memory such as flash memory and/orother suitable electronic data storage. The memory 228 may besubstantially similar to the memory 218.

In an exemplary operation, a wireless link may be established betweenthe master application device 210 and the end-user application device220 through a reflector 230. In an exemplary embodiment of theinvention, the master application device 210 may be operable tocontinuously scan the propagation environment to identify the directionsand antenna patterns that result in strong reflected signals at theend-user application device 220. Then, the master application device 210may associate each strong reflector with one of the collection ofdistributed transceivers 212 a through 212 e so as to transmit anindependent different data stream to the end-user application device 220over each distributed transceiver and through each strong reflector. Forexample, the master application device 210 transmits two data streams tothe end-user application device 220 using two different distributedtransceivers 212 a and 212 d that may use the same frequency channel. Inparticular, the distributed transceivers 212 a may choose a beam pattern250 and orientation for a direct LOS to a transceiver 222, for example,of the end-user application device 220 (the receiving device) andtransmit a first data stream over a carrier frequency RF₁. On the otherhand, the distributed transceivers 212 d may choose a beam pattern 252and orientation that is pointing towards the reflector 230 and transmita second data stream also over the same carrier frequency RF₁. Thereflector 230 then may reflect the beam 252 towards a differenttransceiver 224 of the end-user application device 220. The selection ofthe beam patterns 250 and 252 may come from the central basebandprocessor 214 and the network management engine 216. In an exemplaryembodiment of the invention, the central baseband processor 214 mayprofile channel energy for directions of arrival and other schemes. Thenetwork management engine 216 may know communication environmentinformation such as the number of users, number of streams needed,and/or available frequency channels. For example, the central basebandprocessor 214 and the network management engine 216 may select narrowbeams for close devices and may select wide beams for further devices,respectively.

In one embodiment of the invention, the master application device 210may be operable to utilize the reflector 230 for the second data stream,for example, to lower the chances of an object blocking both the firstand second data streams, simultaneously. In other words, if a big enoughobject blocks the LOS between the master application device 210 and theend-user application device 220, the second data stream may likely beintact and sustained by complete direct reflecting through a reflectedpath 252 a. Although FIG. 2 shows one reflector 230, in one embodimentof the invention, several reflectors may be used to transmit one datastream or multiple data streams. The use of multiple reflectors mayprovide reflection diversification in case one reflector or a sub-set ofreflectors are blocked. In other words, instead of directing alltransmit power towards one reflector only, the total transmit power maybe distributed to propagate over a set of “good” reflectors in theenvironment. This distribution of power over different reflectors may bedone in a controlled, configurable, adaptive, and intelligent manner.For example, reflectors may be chosen and targeted that provide betterorthogonality between the different paths.

In FIG. 2, the master application device 210 may use a second reflectorat a different location and another distributed transceiver 212 c, forexample, to communicate with the end-user application device 220 andsend a third data stream. Also the reflected path 252 a may be caused bymore than one reflector where, for example, the distributed transceiver212 e transmits towards the reflector 230 and the reflection transmitstowards a second reflector and the reflection of the second reflectorreaches the end-user application device 220. In another embodiment ofthe invention, the first and second data streams in FIG. 2 may comprisethe same data content and the use of LOS path and one or more reflectorpaths may provide link robustness for data content in case an obstacleblocks some of the paths.

The master application device 210 may continuously monitor and collectpropagation environment conditions, link quality, device capabilities,locations, target throughput, and/or application QoS requirementsreported from the end-user application device 220. In this regard, afeedback or negotiation channel 240 may be utilized to exchange andnegotiate system configurations such as number of transceivers withindevices, number of antennas per transceivers, the measured channelresponses, the sequence of antenna array coefficients being evaluated,and/or device location. The feedback or negotiation channel 240 may beimplemented through a WLAN, Bluetooth, and/or 60 GHz link, for example

In some embodiments of the invention, the master application device 210and/or the (slave) end-user application device 220 may deploy aplurality of baseband processors for implementing data processingrequirements and/or demands. For example, multiple baseband processorsmay be deployed to generate and/or decode different data streams thatmay be transmitted or received by several distributed transceivers. Insuch configuration, the NME (e.g., NME 216) may be used to enablecontrolling and/or coordinating operation of the multiple basebandprocessors. In this regard, several internal connection topologies maybe used. In some embodiments, each baseband processor may be dedicatedand/or assigned to a subset of distributed transceivers available in thesystem, and for each baseband processor, ring and/or star topologies(explained later) may be used in interacting with correspondingtransceiver(s). In this regard, there may be no data transfer betweenthe subsets. In another embodiment, however, all baseband processors andtransceivers (within a device) may be connected together through a ringtopology (single cable). In such scenario, the baseband processors maycoordinate sharing the single cable, such as based on time-multiplexing(same IF frequency) or frequency-multiplexing (different IFfrequencies). The baseband processors may have different power,processing, and/or communication characteristics. Accordingly, in someembodiments, the baseband processor that is most suitable for aparticular mode of operation (e.g., lower power consumption meeting thethroughput requirement) may be selected and activated, with the otherbaseband processors remaining inactive and/or getting disabled.

FIG. 3 is a diagram that illustrates an exemplary transceiver module, inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 3,there is shown a transceiver 300 comprising an antenna array 310, anantenna array with/without antenna combiner 320, down-converters 330,up-converters 340, and a multiplexer 350.

In an exemplary operation, the antenna array 310 may comprise suitablelogic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable totransmit and receive radio frequency (RF) signals over the air. Fortransmission the transceiver 300 may be operable to receive a transmitsignal from the central baseband processor 214. The transmit signalreceived from the central baseband processor 214 may be up-converted toRF frequency via the up-converters 340. For reception, the transceiver300 may pass a receive signal from the antenna array 310 afterdown-conversion to the central baseband processor 214. The multiplexer350 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code thatmay be operable to multiplex the transmit signal received from thecentral baseband processor 214 and the receive signal supplied from theantenna array 310. In this regard, the multiplexer 350 may utilizeeither time-division-multiplexing or frequency-domain-multiplexing tocommunicate the transmit signal and the receive signal over the samemedium such as a cable.

The antenna array with/without antenna combiner 320 may comprisesuitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operableto scale and/or phase-shift signals before the down-converters 330and/or signals after the up-converters 340. For example, in transmissionoperation the signal provided by the up-converters 340 may bephase-shifted by the shifter by different values. The resultingphase-shifted signals may be fed to different antenna elements withinthe antenna array 310. In another embodiment of the invention, theantenna array 310 may be oriented in a fixed direction or multipledifferent directions depending on antenna types and user preferences.For example, the antenna array 310 may be implemented as a fixeddirectional antenna array to provide maximal directionality (with noexplicit combiner). The same two modules, that is, the antenna array 310and the antenna array with/without antenna combiner 320, may becorrespondingly utilized in a reception operation for the transceiver300. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the operation of theantenna array with/without antenna combiner 320 may be managed orprogrammed by the network management engine 216.

The down-converters 330 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry,interfaces and/or code that may be operable to translate a radiofrequency (RF) received from the antenna array 310 to anintermediate-frequency (IF) signal during reception. The up-converters340 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code thatmay be operable to translate an intermediate-frequency (IF) signal of acorresponding baseband signal supplied from the central basebandprocessor 214, for example to a RF signal during transmission.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary application device with acollection of distributed transceivers that are arranged in a startopology, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Referringto FIG. 4, there is shown an application device 400, which may comprisea central processor 420 that is connected to a collection oftransceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N). As shown, the collection of transceivers410 ₁-410 _(N) may be connected to the central processor 420 in a startopology with direct separate cables, for example, from the centralprocessor 420 to each of the collection of transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N).

The distributed transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N) and the central processor420 may be connected using different topologies. For example, thedistributed transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N) may be connected to the centralprocessor 420 using a star topology, whereby direct separate cables maybe used, for example, to connect the central processor 420 to each ofthe collection of transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N). Alternatively, a ringtopology may be utilized, whereby a single movable cable or connector,for example, may be used to couple the central processor 420 to anyparticular one of the distributed transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N) at anygiven point. In other words, the central processor 420 may connect toone of the distributed transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N), and that connectionmay then be moved to a different transceiver when needed. One or morecontrol channels between the central processer 420 and the distributedtransceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N) may be utilized for configuring and managingcorresponding transceivers. The number and/or structure of the controlchannels may differ based on the connectivity topology. For example,with star topology, a plurality of control channels 412 ₁-412 _(N) maybe to connect the central processer 420 to each of the distributedtransceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N), and may be utilized for configuring andmanaging the transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N), respectively. In a ringtopology, a single control channel 412 may be used, and may be utilizedto the central processer 420 to each particular distributed transceiver410 _(x) at any given point, to enable configuring and managing thattransceiver.

While the interface between the central processor 420 and thedistributed transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N) may be described as utilizingcable (i.e., the central processor 420 being connected to thedistributed transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N) via one or more cables), theinvention may not be so limited. Accordingly, in some embodiments of theinvention, the cable connection between the central baseband processorand the distributed transceivers may be substituted with an opticalconnection, printed-board connection, Ethernet cable, or anotherwireless connection.

The central processor 420 comprises a baseband processor 440, a networkmanagement engine 430, down-converters 442, up-converters 444, amultiplexer 450 and a memory 460. The baseband processor 440 maycomprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may beoperable to provide MODEM functionality. In this regard, the centralprocessor 420 may be operable to perform various baseband digitalprocessing such as MIMO, OFDM, channel coding, HARQ, channel estimationand equalization, beamforming algorithms, Timing/Carrier recovery andsynchronization. The network management engine 430 may operate insubstantially the same manner as the network management engine 218 inFIG. 2. During transmission, a baseband signal supplied from thebaseband processor 440 may be translated into an intermediate-frequency(IF) signal. The up-converters 444 may further translate the IF signalto a final radio-frequency (RF) and send it over the air through anantenna array such as the antenna array 411 ₁. For reception, thetransceiver 410 ₁, for example, may pass a received RF signal from theantenna array 411 ₁ to the down-converters 442. The down-converters 442may translate the RF signal into an IF signal. The IF signal may furtherbe translated to a baseband signal to the baseband processor 440, forexample. The multiplexer 450 may be responsible for multiplexingreceive/transmit signals utilizing either time-division-multiplexing orfrequency-domain-multiplexing. The memory 460 may comprise suitablelogic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to storeinformation such as executable instructions and data that may beutilized by the baseband processor 440 and/or other associated componentunits such as, for example, the network management engine 430. Thememory 360 may comprise RAM, ROM, low latency nonvolatile memory such asflash memory and/or other suitable electronic data storage.

In some embodiments of the invention, the interface between the centralprocessor 420 and the distributed transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N) may alsobe configured to allow for supporting the transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N)having digital processing and mixed-signal capability—i.e., to allow forinteractions based on non-analog IF connections. For example, thetransceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N) may include analog-to-digital-converters(ADCs) and digital-to-analog-converters (DACs). In such scenario, atransceiver 410 _(x) may receive digital bits from the central processor420 (through a digital link), after processing via the basebandprocessor 440 for example, and may use its internal DAC to generate theanalog waveform and then perform the frequency up-conversion andbeamforming steps. Similarly, a transceiver 410 _(x) may receive an RFwaveform, down-convert it, and then use its internal ADC to digitize thewaveform and send the digital bits over a digital connection/cable tothe centralized processor 420 (where it may be further processed via thebaseband processor 440 for example). In other embodiments of theinvention, the transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N) may comprise more digitalprocessing blocks, in addition to ADC/DAC blocks. In such scenario, aportion of processing within the central processor 420 may be moved(e.g., in terms of partitioning) to the transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N). Inthe above embodiments—i.e., when there may be need for digital basedinterfacing between the central processor and the transceivers—digitalconnections and/or interfaces such as Ethernet and various memory busprotocols may be deployed.

The distributed transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N) may operate in various modessuch as spatial diversity mode, frequency diversity mode, multiplexingmode, multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) mode, and/or relay mode.Furthermore, in some embodiments, the distributed transceivers 410 ₁-410_(N) may be configured to switch between spatial diversity mode,frequency diversity mode, multiplexing mode,multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) mode, and/or relay mode based oncorresponding propagation environment conditions, link quality, devicecapabilities, device locations, usage of resources, resourceavailability, target throughput, application QoS requirements.

In spatial diversity mode, the central processor 420 may be operable toutilize the distributed transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N) to establish aspatial diversity link with intended end user device such as theend-user application device 220. For example, only a portion of thedistributed transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N) that may have strong propagationchannel responses are activated and other transceivers are switched offfor power saving. In another example, the distributed transceivers 410₁-410 _(N) may be arranged such that the master application device 210(the transmitter) with available LOS towards the end-user device 220(the receiver) may be configured to directly beam towards the receiver.In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, each active distributedtransceiver may communicate data streams utilizing the same finalcarrier frequency. In frequency diversity mode, the central processor420 may manage the distributed transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N) similar tospatial diversity mode except that each active distributed transceivermay utilize a different final carrier frequency if such frequencyspectrum channel is available.

In multiplexing mode, the central processor 420 may manage thedistributed transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N) in such a way that differentstreams of data may be transmitted through different sets of thedistributed transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N). For example, in multiplexingmode, different distributed transceivers of the distributed transceivers410 ₁-410 _(N) may be dynamically programmed such that eachtransceiver's maximum pattern gain may be pointing to a differentdirection or reflector. As the environment changes (and hence locationof reflectors and end user unit change), the antenna pattern of thedistributed transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N) may be re-adjusted. In MIMOmode, the central processor 420 may manage the distributed transceivers410 ₁-410 _(N) in such a way that different streams of data may betransmitted through different sets of the distributed transceivers 410₁-410 _(N) to a single receiver device such as the end-user applicationdevice 220.

In relay mode, the central processor 420 may manage the distributedtransceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N) to support relay mode of operation, wherebythe application device 400 may be utilized in relaying data streamsbetween two other devices. In this regard, the star topologyimplementation may particularly be suited for relay operations, enablingreception of input data stream from a first device, via a first set ofthe distributed transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N), and (re)transmission of thereceived data stream to a second device via a second set of thedistributed transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N). The selection of the first andsecond sets of the distributed transceivers 410 ₁-410 _(N), and theconfiguration thereof may be performed adaptively and/or dynamically. Inthis regard, the transceivers utilized in receiving and/or transmittingthe relayed streams may be selected in order to optimize the relaying ofcommunication between the distributed transceivers. This may comprise,for example, selecting and/or configuring the transceivers such thatradio frequencies and/or channels may be reused efficiently. Forexample, use of beamforming may enable mitigating potential interferencebetween incoming and outgoing signals so as to allow using the sameradio frequency (RF). In other words, the same RF channel/spectrum maybe reused in a manner that may allow for maintaining links with the twoend devices utilizing physically separated transceivers that may usenon-overlapping antenna patterns to minimize interference. Furthermore,the transceiver(s) maybe be configured to use only some of the antennasavailable therein (e.g., subset of the antenna array), and/or may allowfor use of transceivers without array processing.

In an embodiment of the invention, the application device 400 may bedynamically configured to switch between relay mode of operation andother modes of operation, such as spatial diversity, frequencydiversity, multiplexing, and/or MIMO modes of operation. The switchingbetween the modes may be done based on the network management engine 430reading and analyzing of communication related data, which may comprisedata pertaining to network requirements, data traffic, throughput and/orQoS requirements, spectrum availability, and/or desire for relay nodes.Once the communication related data is read and/or analyzed, the networkmanagement engine 430 and/or the central processor 420 may then usepolicies and/or rules to determine when a transition to and/or fromrelay mode of operation may be warranted. For example, one suchrule/policy may provide the highest QoS for a first device regardless ofother devices/users. In this case, even if there is another device/userthat is requesting access to spectrum, the network management engine 430may still continue to configure the first device to occupy two frequencychannels in order to guarantee higher QoS and link reliability for thefirst device. In another example, if the rule/policy is moreneighbor-friendly, the network management engine 430 continuouslyinstructs the first device to see if the throughput requirements can besatisfied by using only one frequency channel and by relying on “spatialmultiplexing.” As soon as the first device finds sufficiently orthogonaldirections in one frequency channel, the “network management engine”instructs the first device to exit the “Frequency Diversity” mode inorder to free up bandwidth for other devices/users. Based on thispolicy, even if no other device is requesting access for frequencyspectrum, the first device still switches to using one frequency channelas soon as its QoS becomes satisfied.

In an embodiment of the invention, the relay mode of operation mayincorporate attributes and/or configuration policies and/or rulespertaining to one or more of the other modes of operations. In thisregard, configuring the application device 400 to relay mode ofoperation may comprise selecting and/or applying elements from one ormore of the spatial diversity, frequency diversity, multiplexing, and/orMIMO modes of operations. For example, when utilized as a relay device,the distributed transceivers of the application device 400 may beconfigured to incorporate spatial diversity, frequency diversity,multiplexing, and/or MIMO to receive input data streams from the sourcedevice and/or for retransmission(s) to one or more of the destinationdevices

FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating an exemplary relay device thatutilizes distributed transceivers for forwarding data streams, inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 5A,there is shown a relay device 500, a source device 502A, a destinationdevice 502B, and an obstacle 504.

The source device 502A and the destination device 502B may correspond tothe original source of the relayed data stream and the ultimatedestination for the relayed data stream. Alternatively, one or both ofthe source device 502A and the destination device 502B may correspond toanother relay device, such as when the relay device 500 joins a relaymesh, such as relay mesh 150. In this regard, one or both of the sourcedevice 502A and the destination device 502B may correspond to a relaydevice traversed during relaying of data streams between the originalsource and the intended destination device(s) for the data stream.

The relay device 500 may comprise an application device supportingdistributed transceiver (DT) structure, similar to the end-userapplication device 210 of FIG. 2 and/or any of the application devices152 ₁-152 _(N) of FIG. 1B, for example. In this regard, the relay device500 may be operable to support relay modes of operations, whereby therelay device 500 may be configured to relay data streams between twodevices, such as the source device 502A and the destination device 502B.The relay device 500 may comprise a central processor 520 and aplurality of transceivers 510 _(x), of which a first transceiver 510 ₁and second transceiver 510 ₂ are shown.

The central processor 520 may be substantially similar to the CentralProcessor 420, as described with respect to FIG. 4. In this regard, thecentral processor 520 may additionally be operable to support and/ormanage relay mode of operation related functions in the relay device500. In particular, the central processor 520 may be operable to selectand/or configure transceiver(s) that may be optimally utilized to handlereception and retransmission of relayed data streams.

In some embodiments, the relay device 500 may use different carrierfrequencies (e.g., 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 2.7 GHz, 5 GHz, 60 GHz, etc.)and/or different wireless protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ad,LTE, WiGig, etc.) to connect to devices 502A and 502B. For example, theconnection to device 502A may be configured over 60 GHz carrierfrequency using, for example, WiGig air interface, whereas theconnection to device 502B may be configured over 2.7 GHz using, forexample, LTE air interface. In some embodiments, the total availabledistributed transceivers within device 500 may be dynamically allocatedto different relay links, such as based on the links' requirements(e.g., link throughput, link distance). For example, the NME (e.g., NME430) may decide to allocate three distributed transceivers to establisha link with device 502A (where those three transceivers may beconfigured in spatial/frequency diversity or MIMO modes) and to allocateonly one distributed transceiver to establish a link with device 502B.

In some embodiments, the relay device 500 may establish relay links tomore than two devices. For example, device 500 may receive data from twosource devices (utilizing several of its transceiver resources), maycombine and/or merge the data, then may split the data into three datastreams, and send the three data streams to three destination devices(by utilizing several of its transceiver resources).

In some embodiments, a device with distributed transceivers (e.g.,device 500) may take the role of an “Access Point” or “Base Station”. Inthis case, the access point device may utilize its transceiver resourcesto connect (transmit/receive) to multiple end devices, such as bydynamic allocation of frequency band resources and distributedtransceiver resources. The access point device may use some of itstransceiver resources to establish a “wireless backhaul link” to otheraccess points or any other node in the network. All modes of operation(spatial diversity, frequency diversity, spatial multiplexing, and MIMOprocessing) may be utilized by the access point device for any of itsconnections.

Each of the transceivers 510 ₁ and 510 ₂ may be similar to any of thedistributed transceivers 410 _(x), substantially as described withrespect to FIG. 4. In this regard, each of the transceiver 510 ₁ andtransceiver 510 ₂ may comprise a plurality of antennas, which may beconfigured in accordance with particular mode of operation, which maycomprise in addition to spatial diversity mode, frequency diversitymode, multiplexing mode and multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) mode,one or more relay modes of operations. For example, available relaymodes of operation may comprise a passive (or pass-through) mode ofoperation and active mode of operation. In passive mode of operation, noprocessing of the received, relayed signal is performed prior tore-transmission. In this regard, when operating in passive relay mode,the relay device 500 may simply down-convert the received radiofrequency RF₁ waveform of the signals received from the source device502A to intermediate frequency IF, may re-amplify the signal, and thenmay up-convert the IF waveform to frequency RF₂ for transmission to thedestination device 502B, without requiring any data demodulation by thecentral processer 520. The passive mode of operation may be utilizedwhen the quality of the received waveform is deemed sufficient forpassive relaying. In this regard, the quality of received waveform maybe determined based on calculation of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Withactive mode of operation, some processing may be performed within therelay device 500, such as via the central processor 520. In this regard,during active relay mode, the received waveform RF₁ may be demodulatedby the central processor 520, after conversion to the intermediatefrequency IF, and then re-modulated to be transmitted to the destinationdevice 502B over radio frequency RF₂.

In operation, the relay device 500 may be configured in relay mode ofoperation. In this regard, the relay device 500 may relay data streamsbetween two different devices. The relaying via the relay device 500 maybe necessitated by the lack of line-of-sight (LOS) between the sourcedevice 502A and the destination device 502B, such as due to the obstacle504, which prevents establishing direct links between the devices.Alternatively, data may be relayed via the relay device 500 even whenthe source device 502A and the destination device 502B may be able toestablish direct links, but use of such direct links may be undesirable.In this regard, determining that relaying data via the relay device 500may be optimal may be based on capabilities of the relay device 500, thesource device 502A, and/or the destination device 502B. For example, oneor both of the source device 502A and the destination device 502B may bea low-power device (or temporarily low on battery charge) which may notbe able to provide the transmit power required for providing thenecessary beamforming gain, and using the relay device 500 may enablesaving power in the device(s).

During typical relay operation, the relay device 500 may receive astream of data from the source device 502A, over carrier frequency RF₁and at a particular direction D1, and may subsequently retransmit thereceived data stream to the destination device 502B, over frequency RF₂and at a different direction D2. In some instances, the reception andretransmission can be done concurrently, over the same or differentfrequency channels. Alternatively, the reception and retransmission maybe performed in a time-multiplexed manner. In instances when a pluralityof relay modes of operations are available, such as passive mode andactive mode, a particular mode of operation may be selected, withcommunication related components and/or operations being configuredbased on that selection. The particular mode of operations may beselected based on monitoring and/or determining various communicationand/or performance related parameters. For example, passive mode ofoperation may be selected when quality of received signal, which may bedetermined based on measured SNR, may be deemed sufficient to enableretransmission without requiring additional processing (demodulation andre-modulation) of the carried data.

In some embodiments of the invention, frequencies RF₁ and RF₂ may be thesame radio frequency (RF), to enable maximizing reuse of frequencyspectrum. The use of the same radio frequency may be made possible byuse of propagation configuration techniques that may mitigate possibleinterference between the reception paths and the retransmission paths.In this regard, the relay device 500 may utilize non-overlapping(non-aligned) beam patterns 512 ₁ and 512 ₂ for receiving andretransmitting so that the same frequency and/or channel may be utilizedfor both reception and re-transmission.

In some embodiments of the invention, the relay device 500 may performvarious optimization measures to improve the effectiveness and/orefficiency of relay operations. For example, the relay device 500 mayadaptively select antenna(s) used in receiving and/or transmitting therelayed data streams, to minimize the number of antennas used. In thisregard, the relay device 500 may measure the signal power of the signalreceived from source device (502A). Based on the link throughput betweenthe source device (502A) and the relay device 500, the relay device 500may utilize the minimum number of antennas required to establish andmaintain the link (with sufficient margin). These antennas may then becombined and connected to one RF-to-IF converter chain. The antennas maycorrespond to an antenna array (or subset thereof) of a singletransceiver, such as transceiver 510 ₁. Alternatively, the minimumnumber of antenna required may be a combination from multipletransceivers.

For example, the relay device 500 may use on the receive side, aparticular transceiver (e.g., transceiver 510 ₁) with all antennasthereof being active, and also require use of a second transceiver(e.g., transceiver 510 ₂), with only a subset of antennas thereof beingactive. On the transmit side, a subset or all of the remaining antennasof the second transceiver may be grouped together and connected to theother IF-to-RF up-convertor, for transmission of signals to thedestination device 502B. In this regard, determining and/or selectingthe transmit side antennas may depend on the distance to the destinationdevice 502B, the transmit power per antenna, and/or the desired width ofthe antenna pattern. In some embodiments, the NME may decide to allocatea subset of transceivers to receive incoming waveform (e.g., dependingon channel/throughput requirements) and allocate another subset totransmit the signal to the destination device. When multipletransceivers are utilized for each link, then various diversityconfigurations (frequency, spatial) may be utilized based onchannel/traffic/throughput conditions.

The relay device 500 may also be operable to improve frequency spectrumreuse, whereby the relay device 500 may coordinate the time slots usedfor packet transmissions and receptions from the source device and/or tothe destination device(s), to minimize the cross-interference when thesame frequency is used. In this regard, the relay device 500 may use thesame time slots to simultaneously transmit packets to both source deviceand the destination device(s) while using common time slots forsimultaneously receiving packets. This may enable minimizingco-interference between transceiver(s) used on the receive side (e.g.,transceiver 510 ₁) to transceiver(s) used on the transmit side (e.g.,transceiver 510 ₂), and vice versa.

The relay device 500 may re-use the same frequency channel for linkingto both the source device 502A and the destination device 502B—i.e.,F_RF₁ is the same as F_RF₂. This mode of operation may be enabled when,for example, less frequency channels are available or the frequencychannels are being used by other devices in the vicinity. The relaydevice 500 may consider various communication and/or network relatedconditions when determining if/when to switch between the two modes ofoperations—that is between using different frequency channels for F_RF₁and F_RF₂ and using the same frequency channels for F_RF₁ and F_RF₂.Exemplary conditions that may be considered comprise, for example: 1)the distance between transceivers 510 ₁ and 510 ₂ within the relaydevice 500 s (e.g., the larger the separation, the higher the weightthat the system may give to reusing the same frequency); 2) the widthsof antenna beam patterns of transceivers 510 ₁ and 510 ₂, as well asbeam patterns of source device 502A and the destination device 502B(e.g., the narrower the beam patterns, the less the cross interference;hence the system gives a higher weight to reusing the same frequency);3) level of orthogonality (or angular separation) between the antennapatterns of transceivers 510 ₁ and 510 ₂ within the relay device 500(e.g., the better the orthogonality, the system gives higher weight toreusing the same frequency); 4) angular separation, or difference indirections of links established by the relay device 500 to the sourcedevice 502A and the destination device 502B (e.g., the larger theangular separation, the system gives higher weight to reusing the samefrequency); and 5) link quality requirements, such as link SNRrequirements (e.g., the lower the SNR requirements, the links cantolerate higher level of interference; hence the system gives higherweight to reusing the same frequency).

In some embodiments of the invention, resources may be shared duringrelay operations in the relay device 500, such as when the relay device500 is utilized to concurrently relay different steams, for examplebetween different pairs of devices. In this regard, the distributedtransceivers of the relay device 500 may be configured to establishmultiple parallel wireless links, and resources of the relay device 500may be optimally shared during handling of communications via theseparallel wireless links. For example, dedicated transceivers may beassigned to different traffic categories—e.g., one link dedicated to CPUsharing, one to memory sharing for reduced latency, and one dedicated tointernet traffic. Also, different types of traffic may be partitioned todedicated wireless links. For example, low latency traffic may use a lowlatency link, whereas Internet data traffic may be routed over anInternet link.

FIG. 5B is a diagram illustrating an exemplary relay device thatutilizes distributed transceivers for forwarding data streams, withvarying beamforming configurations for the receive side and the transmitside, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Referring toFIG. 5B, there is shown the relay device 500 of FIG. 5A. Also shown inFIG. 5B is a source destination device 522A and a destination device522B. The source destination device 522A and the destination device 522Bmay be similar to the source destination device 502A and the destinationdevice 502B, substantially as described with respect to FIG. 5B.

In operation, the source destination device 522A and the destinationdevice 522B may utilize the relay device 500 for relaying data streamsbetween the destination device 522A and the destination device 522B whencommunicating the data streams between the devices is not possible ordesirable. In some instances, the capabilities of the source anddestination devices may vary, and/or communication requirements and/orlimitations associated with transmission or reception of data to/fromthe devices may be different. As such, the relay device 500 may beoperable to configure the transceiver resources based on thecapabilities and/or limitations of each of the source and destinationdevices, respectively, and/or links therewith, in a manner that mayallow for different beamforming characteristics—e.g., beams havingdifferent width. For example, the source device 522A may comprise alow-transmit-power and/or low-power-supply device, and/or may compriselimited communication capabilities—e.g., comprising only one antennatransmitter, such as when the source device 522A comprises a smartphone.The source device 522A, however, may need to establish a high-throughputlink to the destination device 522B, such as when the destination device522B may be a TV or similar display-capable device, to which the sourcedevice 522A may seek to direct its multimedia streams for enhancedplayback (i.e., larger/better screen).

In instances where the destination device 5228 is located too far fromthe source device 522A (e.g., across a large room), however, thecapabilities and/or resources (including remaining battery charge) ofthe source device 522A may not be sufficient to create and/or maintainsuch a link. Rather, the data streams may be sent indirectly, throughthe relay device 500 for example, such as when the relay device 500 islocated close to the source device 522A and/or where the relay device500 may comprise more capabilities and/or resources (e.g., a laptop),and the ability to re-configure its antenna and transceiver resourcesinto relay operation mode. In such scenario, the source device 522A mayonly need to configure its antenna(s) to create a short link to therelay device 500, and may be able to achieve the required throughput(due to the shortness of the distance) while forming a narrow beampattern 524 ₁ that would not interfere with the transmission of therelay device 500. This may greatly lower the power consumption in boththe smartphone and the relay device 500, associated with communicationof the input data stream from the source device 522A to the relay device500 without degrading the link quality.

On the transmit side, the relay device 500 may use its remaining antennaand transceiver resources (or a subset thereof) to create a link fromthe relay device 500 and the destination device 522B. In this regard,the relay device 500 may allocate more resources, including a largernumber of antennas, to the transmit side, and accordingly the relaydevice 500 may be able to achieve more omni-directional antenna pattern(wider beam lobe) 524 ₂, while maintaining a high average omni-transmitpower. In other words, the relay device 500 may be able to establish atransmit side link that is sufficiently powerful to ensure delivery ofthe data stream to the destination device 522B, while not encounteringany interference issues. The ability to establish the link with a widerbeam lobe may make the link less susceptible to direction estimationerrors. This asymmetric and dynamic allocation of resources by the relaydevice 500 among its links with the source and destination devices maybe determined and/or configured based on a plurality of communication orperformance parameters, such as, for example, distance between the relaydevice 500 to the source device 522A and destination device 522B,respectively; power available at the transmit and/or receive sides;quality (e.g., SNR) of the links; power capabilities of the sourcedevice 522A and/or destination device 522B; and/or antenna beamformingcapabilities of the source device 522A and/or destination device 522B.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart that illustrates exemplary steps for relayingdata streams via a device that comprises distributed transceivers, inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 6,there is shown a flow chart 600 comprising a plurality of exemplarysteps for performing repeating service in a relay device, such as therelay device 500.

In step 602, an application device with one or more distributedtransceivers for receiving and/or transmitting data to one or moredevices, such as device 500, may be requested to provide relay of datastreams between two devices. For example, the relay device 500 mayreceive a request from a source device (e.g., the source device 502A) torelay a data stream from the source device to a destination device(e.g., the destination device 502B). In step 604, the application devicemay switch to a relay mode of operation, and may determine (before orafter the switch) communication related information pertinent to therelay mode. In this regard, the application device may monitor and/orcollect, for example, propagation environment conditions, link quality,device capabilities, device locations, target throughput, and/or QoSrequirements from the devices. In step 606, the application device mayselect one or more of the distributed transceivers for data receptionand/or transmission based on communication related informationdetermined in step 604. In step 608, the application device maydetermine connection types, communication protocols, and/or transceiveroperation modes for the selected distributed transceivers based oncommunication related information. In step 610, the application devicemay configure the selected distributed transceivers to support thedetermined connection types, communication protocols, and transceiveroperating modes. In step 612, the application device may provide relayservicing by receiving data stream from the source device via receiveside transceiver(s)/antenna(s) and transmitting the data stream to thedestination device via transmit side transceiver(s)/antenna(s).

Various embodiments of the invention may comprise a method and systemfor a repeater network that utilizes distributed transceivers with arrayprocessing. The relay device 500 may be configured to operate in a relaymode, in which the relay device 500 may be utilized to relay input datastreams from source devices (e.g., 502A or 522A) to one or moredestination devices (e.g., 502B or 522B). In this regard, relayoperations may comprise configuring one or more of the plurality ofdistributed transceivers (e.g., transceiver 510 ₁ and 510 ₂) to operatein a particular mode of relay operation. The input data stream may bethen be received from the source device via at least one of theconfigured distributed transceivers. One or more relay data streams,corresponding to the input data stream, may then be transmitted to thedestination device(s), via at least one of the configured distributedtransceivers. The destination device(s) may comprise other relaydevice(s), and/or the intended destination device for the input datastream. The source device may comprise another relay device and/or anoriginal source device for the input data stream. The particular mode ofrelay operation may be determined, such as by the central processor 520,based on one or more performance criteria, which may pertain to linkquality and/or propagation environment.

The particular mode of relay operation may be selected, by the centralprocessor 520, from a plurality of modes of relay operation. In thisregard, the plurality of modes of relay operation may comprise a passivemode of relay operation and an active mode of relay operation. Thepassive mode of relay operation may comprise forwarding the data streamunprocessed The active mode of relay operation may comprise performingdigital signal processing by the baseband processor 440 of the relaydevice 500 during the reception of the input data stream and/ortransmission of the at least one relay data stream. The networkmanagement engine 430 may monitor during relay operations, one or morecommunication parameters or conditions associated with the configurationof the one or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers.Beamforming settings and/or antenna arrangement for at least one of theconfigured distributed transceivers may be configured, via the centralprocessor 520, based on the monitoring. The relay device 500 maydetermine and/or select connection types and communication protocolsthat may be applied to the relay operations, and may allocate resourcesto the one or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers.Resources may be shared among the one or more of the plurality ofdistributed transceivers during the relay operations.

All the embodiments may be applied to cases where a set of devices areused in relay mode to transfer data from a source device to adestination device. In this case, the data is transferred after severalrelay hops through intermediate relay devices. Intermediate relaydevices utilize their transceivers (in accordance to several ofdisclosed embodiments) to establish intermediate wireless links.

Other embodiments of the invention may provide a non-transitory computerreadable medium and/or storage medium, and/or a non-transitory machinereadable medium and/or storage medium, having stored thereon, a machinecode and/or a computer program having at least one code sectionexecutable by a machine and/or a computer, thereby causing the machineand/or computer to perform the steps as described herein for repeaternetwork that utilizes distributed transceivers with array processing.

Accordingly, the present invention may be realized in hardware,software, or a combination of hardware and software. The presentinvention may be realized in a centralized fashion in at least onecomputer system, or in a distributed fashion where different elementsare spread across several interconnected computer systems. Any kind ofcomputer system or other system adapted for carrying out the methodsdescribed herein is suited. A typical combination of hardware andsoftware may be a general-purpose computer system with a computerprogram that, when being loaded and executed, controls the computersystem such that it carries out the methods described herein.

The present invention may also be embedded in a computer programproduct, which comprises all the features enabling the implementation ofthe methods described herein, and which when loaded in a computer systemis able to carry out these methods. Computer program in the presentcontext means any expression, in any language, code or notation, of aset of instructions intended to cause a system having an informationprocessing capability to perform a particular function either directlyor after either or both of the following: a) conversion to anotherlanguage, code or notation; b) reproduction in a different materialform.

While the present invention has been described with reference to certainembodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatvarious changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. In addition, manymodifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material tothe teachings of the present invention without departing from its scope.Therefore, it is intended that the present invention not be limited tothe particular embodiment disclosed, but that the present invention willinclude all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: in a relay device thatcomprises a plurality of distributed transceivers, a central processorand a network management engine: relaying an input data stream from asource device to at least one other device, wherein said relayingcomprises: configuring one or more of said plurality of distributedtransceivers to operate in a particular mode of relay operation;receiving said input data stream from said source device via at leastone of said configured one or more of said plurality of distributedtransceivers; and transmitting at least one relay data streamcorresponding to said input data stream to said at least one otherdevice, via at least one of said configured one or more of saidplurality of distributed transceivers.
 2. The method according to claim1, wherein said at least one other device comprises another relay deviceor a destination device for said input data stream.
 3. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein said source device comprises another relaydevice or an original source device for said input data stream.
 4. Themethod according to claim 1, comprising determining said particular modeof relay operation based on one or more performance criteria, saidperformance criteria comprising one or more of: link quality andpropagation environment during said communication.
 5. The methodaccording to claim 1, comprising selecting said particular mode of relayoperation from a plurality of modes of relay operation.
 6. The methodaccording to claim 5, wherein said plurality of modes of relay operationcomprises a passive mode of relay operation and an active mode of relayoperation, said passive mode of relay operation comprising forwardingsaid data stream unprocessed and said active mode of relay operationcomprising performing digital signal processing by said centralprocessor during said reception of said input data stream and/ortransmission of said at least one relay data stream.
 7. The methodaccording to claim 1, comprising monitoring, by said network managementengine, one or more communication parameters or conditions associatedwith said configuration of said one or more of said plurality ofdistributed transceivers.
 8. The method according to claim 7, comprisingconfiguring based on said monitoring, beamforming settings and antennaarrangement for said one or more of said plurality of distributedtransceivers.
 9. The method according to claim 1, comprising determiningconnection types and communication protocols, and allocating resourcesto said one or more of said plurality of distributed transceivers. 10.The method according to claim 9, comprising sharing resources among saidone or more of said plurality of distributed transceivers.
 11. A system,comprising: a relay device that comprises a plurality of distributedtransceivers, a central processor and a network management engine, saidrelay device being operable to relay an input data stream from a sourcedevice to at least one other device, wherein during said relay of saidinput data stream, said relay device is operable: configure one or moreof said plurality of distributed transceivers to operate in a particularmode of relay operation; receive said input data stream from said sourcedevice via at least one of said configured one or more of said pluralityof distributed transceivers; and transmit at least one relay data streamcorresponding to said input data stream to said at least one otherdevice, via at least one of said configured one or more of saidplurality of distributed transceivers.
 12. The system according to claim11, wherein said at least one other device comprises another relaydevice or a destination device for said input data stream.
 13. Thesystem according to claim 11, wherein said source device comprisesanother relay device or an original source device for said input datastream.
 14. The system according to claim 11, wherein said relay deviceis operable to determine said particular mode of relay operation basedon one or more performance criteria, said performance criteriacomprising one or more of: link quality and propagation environmentduring said communication.
 15. The system according to claim 11, whereinsaid relay device is operable to select said particular mode of relayoperation from a plurality of modes of relay operation.
 16. The systemaccording to claim 15, wherein said plurality of plurality of modes ofrelay operation comprises a passive mode of relay operation and anactive mode of relay operation, said passive mode of relay operationcomprising forwarding said data stream unprocessed and said active modeof relay operation comprising performing digital signal processing bysaid central processor during said reception of said input data streamand/or transmission of said at least one relay data stream.
 17. Thesystem according to claim 11, wherein said network management engine isoperable to monitor one or more communication parameters or conditionsassociated with said configuration of said one or more of said pluralityof distributed transceivers.
 18. The system according to claim 17,wherein said relay device is operable to configure based on saidmonitoring, beamforming settings and antenna arrangement for said one ormore of said plurality of distributed transceivers.
 19. The systemaccording to claim 11, wherein said relay device is operable todetermine connection types and communication protocols, and allocatingresources to said one or more of said plurality of distributedtransceivers.
 20. The system according to claim 19, wherein said relaydevice is operable to share resources among said one or more of saidplurality of distributed transceivers.